Demand for guns, ammunition high as president pushes for tighter regulation

Gun retailers are setting up for the R.K. Gun Show this weekend at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. The preparations come as President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats like Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., push to tighten gun laws.

Vice President Joe Biden was in Virginia Friday to lobby for support of the president’s new plan. The looming possibility of new gun legislation has some gun owners and enthusiasts scrambling to stock up.

Hot-pink billboards advertising the gun show can be seen from the highway -- a glaring reminder that the hot-button issue of gun control is sharply focused.

Thousands will flock to the R.K. Gun Show to buy guns, and the process to purchase is relatively simple.

"First thing you’d do is start with an Oklahoma driver’s license, and then you fill out a form that’s put out by the federal government -- and then we call and do a background check,” said gun retailer Paul Poe of Gun Brokers Paul.

Poe told KOCO Eyewitness News 5's Erielle Reshef that he is constantly in touch with the FBI.

According to police, however, not all gun vendors perform background checks. Licensed gun owners are required to do so by law, but private traders are not. Police said licensed retailers are able to purchase merchandise at a discount and in bulk, whereas nonlicensed sellers are restricted.

"I’m in favor of universal background checks,” Poe said. “In other words, no firearms are transferred without a background check,” he continued.

Poe maintains it’s not just a safety issue but a moral one.

“If I sell a gun and it’s used for an illegal act, I feel remorse about that," he said.

Poe also said he’d rather “let the FBI make that decision on whether they release the gun or not.”

Obama wants to reinstate the 1994 ban on assault weapons. Poe believes that goes too far -- punishing the majority for the actions of a small few.

He said, “I don’t think they need to be outlawed, but I think they need to be policed.”

The pervasive fear of new gun legislation among gun proponents has sent guns and ammo flying off the shelves.

Ammunition is in short supply because, Poe said, “the preppers run out and bought all the ammo up thinking that the sky is falling."

He also said gun owners are worried about higher taxes and background checks on ammo.

In New York State, the Safe Act requires everybody selling ammo to register with the state and to run background checks on buyers.

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